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The Ramayana, one of the two pre-eminent ancient Hindu epics, has played a foundational role in many aspects of India's arts and social norms. For centuries, people learned this narrative by watching, listening, and participating in enactments of it. The story has continued to be retold and rethought through the centuries in many of India's regional languages, such as Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali, and has provided the basis for enactments in recitation, musical renditions, dance, and avant-garde performances. This volume introduces non-specialists to the Ramayana's major themes and complexities, as well as to the highly nuanced terms in Indian languages used to represent theater and performance.
List of contents
- Preface and Acknowledgements: The Journey of the Book
- List of Illustrations
- Note on Transliteration
- I. Orientations and Beginnings
- 1. The Ramayana Narrative Tradition as a Resource for Performance
- Paula Richman
- 2. Thinking the Ramayana Tradition through Performance
- Rustom Bharucha
- 3. Where Narrative and Performance Meet: Nepathya's R¿m¿yäa Säk¿¿pam
- Rizio Yohannan
- II The Politics of Caste
- 4. Shambuk's Severed Head by Omprakash Valmiki
- Translation by Aaron Sherraden
- 5. Recasting Shambuk in Three Hindi Anti-Caste Dramas
- Aaron Sherraden
- 6. The Killing of Shambuk: A Retelling from a Director's Perspective
- Sudhanva Deshpande
- III Interrogating the Anti-Hero
- 7. Ravana Center Stage: Origins of Ravana and King of Lanka
- Paula Richman
- 8. Ravana as Dissident Artist: The Tenth Head and Ravanama
- Rustom Bharucha
- 8a. Script of The Tenth Head
- Vinay Kumar
- 8b. Script of Ravanama
- Maya Krishna Rao
- IV Performing Gender
- 9. The Making of RamaRavana: Reflections on Gender, Music, and Staging
- Hanne M. de Bruin
- 10. Writing Her "Self": The Politics of Gender in Nangyarkuttu
- Mundoli Narayanan
- V Conversations and Arguments
- 11. Reflections on Ramayana in Kutiyattam
- David Shulman, Margi Madhu Chakyar, Dr. Indu G. with Rustom Bharucha
- 12. Questions around Ram Vijay: Sattriya in a Monastic Tradition
- Sri Narayan Chandra Goswami with Parasmoni Dutta, Paula Richman,
- and Rustom Bharucha
- 13. Performing the Argument: Ramayana in Talamaddale
- Akshara K.V.
- VI Beyond Enactment
- 14. Revisiting "Being Rama": Playing a God in Changing Times
- Urmimala Sarkar Munsi
- 15. The Night Before Bhor Arti: Play and Banarasipan in the Ramnagar Ramlila
- Bhargav Rani
- 16. The Challenges Ahead: Researching the Ramayana Performance Tradition
- Rustom Bharucha
- Glossary
- List of Contributors
- Index
About the author
Paula Richman is William H. Danforth Professor of South Asian Religions, Emerita, at Oberlin College, in Ohio. She has edited three volumes and published more than thirty articles on the diversity of the Indian Ramayana tradition.
Rustom Bharucha retired as Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Author of several books on performance, he has also worked as a dramaturg worldwide and was involved in the curation of three Ramayana Festivals at the Adishakti Theatre Laboratory in Puducherry, India.
Additional text
The book's most significant contribution to studies of the Ramayana would be its context-specific analyses of the case studies, the range of performance traditions engaged, and the multiplicity of voices. This breadth and diversity - of texts, examples and issues - are counterpointed by the editors' and contributors' meticulous attention to environments and conditions... [The book] performs its message of pluralism, in its mode, form and concerns.
